New Series Era ‘Doctor Who’ Returns To AMC+ This June

AMC+ is back in the Doctor Who business!

The AMC Networks streaming series announced Thursday that it has acquired the US streaming rights to New Series Doctor Who. To be precise, the episodes released between 2005 and 2022. This era includes the incarnations of The Doctor played by Christopher Eccelston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, and Jodie Whittaker — with special appearances by John Hurt as the War Doctor,  Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor, and Classic Era stars Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann. The Time Lord materializes on the service starting June 11th.

It is a homecoming of sorts as AMC Networks ran the show in the US for much of the New Series era. Although, toward the end of that arrangement, streaming rights to the series were secured by Warner Bros. for use on HBO Max. That deal ended some time ago and with Disney walking away from its relationship with the show, the New Series episodes were unavailable on streaming for the last year.

Here are the raw numbers: AMC+ will have 175 episodes of the program, including Christmas specials, anniversary episodes like “The Day of The Doctor” and “The Power of the Doctor”, and the final four episodes of Tennant’s first tenure as The Doctor. His second run, at the Fourteenth Doctor, will remain on Disney+ for the time being, as will Ncuti Gatwa‘s short time as the Fifteenth Doctor. The Classic Series — produced from 1963-1989 — is available on the US via BritBox and the Doctor Who classic episodes YouTube page (among other ad-supported options). And, of course, nearly all of the show in all its forms is available on physical media minus Gatwa’s second year as The Doctor (in the US at least).

Oddly, the deal does not appear to include spinoff programs Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, or Class. Although, that last one may not be a great cause for concern among the Who faithful.

Also curious, rumors were circulating in the last few weeks indicating AMC might even become a production partner with the BBC for new episodes of Doctor Who in the post-Disney era. It is unclear if the reports were just overstating the streaming rights deal or if there is more news forthcoming. As it happens, the future of the program is almost as big a question mark as the real reason The Doctor left Gallifrey. Currently, a 2026 Christmas Specials is set to be produced — although close watchers have noticed a distinctly lack of production. That could be a problem as the window to film a holiday episode is closing.

Any new installments beyond that are extremely uncertain. The BBC says it is committed to continuing the show, it is one of the corporation’s biggest moneymakers in terms of merchandise and international sales, but it is unclear if they have a road to production mapped out or even a Sixteenth Doctor in mind. Speaking of which: despite the shock of seeing Billie Piper emerge in Gatwa’s place at the end of the Disney era series, no one including Piper seems to know if she will indeed play The Doctor in the festive special.

In the interim, though, fans can introduce Who agnostics to the show with “Blink” once again when Doctor Who comes to AMC+ on June 11th.